I was looking at some of my step dad's pocket knives and they are over 30 years or more old. there is a couple of Schrade USA made knives , a German (J.A. Henkel) made hawkbill and a Case hawkbill. there is also an electricians 2 blade made by Colonial. it seems to be a pretty well made knife but it is very hard to open and I don't think my thumb nail will last very long trying to open it all of the time. I have oiled it but it is not very easy to open. is there any way to loosen it up a little bit?

Put a little lube on the pivot point.

Lube per Maddog 521 Open the blade and partially open and close it over and over again, like while watching a TV show.
You could also open it, hold the handle in one hand, the blade in the other, and wiggle the blade SLIGHTLY from side to side, that might be a bit extreme. See what others say about that before doing.
Good Luck
Steve W

Get heavy duty aluminum foil and make a small “pan” that it will fit in (to save wasting a bunch of oil) then immerse it in penetrating oil. Let is soak a day or two then pull it out and open both blades half way. The blow it out with an air compressor (or can of compressed air if you don’t have access to one). Then open all the way and blow out again. Should work fine then.

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Possum—The other white meat!

a little penetrating oil in the pivot and opening and closing it 20-30 times should do it

Flush the action with WD40, preceded if you like by soap and hot water. Then lube the pivot. Working the pivot may help, or you may want to try leaving the blade part way open. I would say halfway, but if the knife has a half stop, you will want to leave it at 1/4 or 3/4 to make sure the spring is under tension. You may need to let it sit this way for a day or two.

Most people who report on this method say it works for them. Of course, we never hear about unreported failures.

BTW, just what is your electrical knife? The TL-29 is a common pattern: a spear main blade with a locking screwdriver/scraper blade, like these.

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Not in jail.

it has the non-locking spear point and the locking screwdriver blade

Collecting antique folders for a few decades now has given me some insight. Most of the above is sound advise with the exception of soaking it in a pan of oil. While this is sound advise in many instances it is detrimental to many knife scales, AKA handles. It can determinate plastic and loosen and open pores in bone and stag. Colonial was an inexpensive knife but sound in most cases. Probably from the 1950's and 1960's.

What Schrade models do you have? I'm a great admirer of the older U.S.-made ones, especially the carbon steel Old Timer line. Splendid working knives, and they were very economical to buy..

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Oh well, what the hell.

Schrade 120T and 897UH

WD 40 usually works?

I have a few of the same Electrician's Knives and they too are hard to open. Lubricating will do almost nothing as the Spring they use in the knife is quite robust! I do believe they made them this way purposely to keep the blades deployed stiffly and not move when used. I could be wrong, however every Electrician's Knife I've ever personally seen was the same way! While I am not a Professional Electrician by any means, I do my own electrical work, have an electrician's tool pouch always at the read with one of those knives on a carabiniere and every time I open it I usually wind up chipping a thumb nail.

I have in my collection quite possible the oldest electrician knife in existence. In relic condition when I purchased it at a yard sale, the blades had terrible set back, the springs were sprung so to speak. The pin had been replaced with a nail and the wooden handles were dry. I did what I could to display it and checking the blade stamp, the company that produced it was only in business till 1863. The shield has numbers believing to me that it was government issue.

And as CHIEF said all the electrician knives I have owned were very stiff springed.

Just thinking out loud here. What exactly would one use an electrician's knife for before the Civil War? I'd like to see a picture of the knife . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Telegraph work maybe?

That is my guess. So many things are speculative. Since the blades had been out of the handles at least once as evident by the nail as a pin, one could easily say that the blades and handles were not original to each other. But the knife markings on the blades themselves are the standard electrician pattern and are stamped from a company that went defunct in 1863. Who knows.

I guess I will just have to use a car key or something to open the blade. I did put some Birchwood Casey gun oil on the joints and it did seem to be a little easier. the knife had probably never been opened in the last 40 years or more.

They had stiff springs because locking blades wern't common back then. I remember having to be careful using my Boy Scout Camping Utility knife and even the Swiss Army knife because the blade would fold up on your fingers.

When I discovered Kershaw's one handed assisted opening knives and liner locking mechanism ...I never broke another nail or had one fold up on me again !
Seems like the Buck 110 was the first common lock back that I can remember....might be why it sold so well .
Gary

None of my TL-29s has stiff springs. One is supposedly NOS Klein, another an old Imperial. There is really no reason to have stiff springs. The screwdriver blade has a liner lock.

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Not in jail.

True and true. They weren't the first but they are the first anyone heard about with a lock back design. It is what made their company into the huge company we know today. Not only did their knives lock but they were high quality and they still are. They're just a little heavy by today's standards but I will always have one.

Lock backs were common back in the 19th century. They just cost more than similar size single blade slip joints and the masses did not have money for frills. Remington's R1306 is an example of a popular Pre-WW II lock back. What set the Buck 110 apart was it was thicker than other manufacture's single blade folders making the 110 more comfortable in the hand and at least giving it the appearance of being stronger. Also Buck's claim of having stupendously hard blade steel made a very effective ad. To Buck's credit my ca. 1970 Bucks held an edge longer than Cases and a whale of a lot longer than Schrade Old Times but that came at the price of being harder to sharpen. For a couple of decades the 110 and its copies became the closest thing their ever was to a universal workman's knife.

True but the Schrade blades were high carbon and easy to sharpen. I kept mine sharp for many years. Actually it's still sharp but not as sharp as my Buck.

FWIW I prefer a knife that holds an edge longer. I have one that does a great job of that now. But I kept the Uncle Henry I had because my father bought it for me.